Check Out Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition’s Co-op Bloody Palace in Action Here

While we got a look at Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition‘s co-op feature for Bloody Palace via screenshots earlier this week, Capcom went up and beyond with a whole livestream yesterday showing off the mode with Youtubers DevilNeverCry and Millz. You can watch the stream archive above (starts 4:50 mark).

For the co-op mode, you access the option easily just by switching from Solo to Co-op on the main menu screen. However, you’ll need two saves – a Dante save file and a Vergil save file. While the stages with regular enemies have the two players share the same screen, boss fights utilize splitscreen instead.

Additionally, developers Hideaki Itsuno and Matt Walker were also on the stream, answering questions from the chat regarding the development of Devil May Cry 3.

Here are some highlights below:

• Itsuno reminiscences how back then, if Devil May Cry 3 hadn’t become a hit, they would’ve quit making more games in the series. However, thankfully it became a game that defined the series.

• What did Itsuno think of the original Devil May Cry when it was in development? He was such a big fan that he still has a VHS tape with the announcement video. He found the game really cool, with so much freedom and style to develop, but figured it wouldn’t sell because of how it aimed for the hardcore audience.

• When asked to compare Capcom in the mid-00s to current-day Capcom, Itsuno stated that a lot changed in terms of the development process around the time they were making Devil May Cry 3. Back then, the different sections would work on different floors in the R&D building, however Itsuno requested that the different sections working on DMC3 work together to be able to give feedback easier, and it was the first Capcom title to use this method. Nowadays, it’s common practice in Capcom.

• Itsuno and Matt’s favorite Dante fighting styles are Swordmaster and Trickster respectively.

• According to Itsuno, the reason why Trickster style is the first style you use in the game is because it’s essentially ‘Devil May Cry 2‘ style. Royalguard is essentially Street Fighter 3-style. Swordmaster style is essentially Marvel Vs. Capcom style. Finally, Gunslinger is Dante-style.

• Itsuno saw DMC3 as his chance to utilize his knowledge of making fighting games, and putting it into an action game. The programmers were also fighting game programmers who worked on games like Capcom Vs. SNK and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure with Itsuno, and they added all these in-depth mechanics so that advanced players could take advantage of them.

• Why is there more blood and gore in DMC3 compared to the first two games? Due to Itsuno’s experiences developing fighting games, he understood that each successful hit had to feel good, and be communicated to the player clearly every time, which was the visual indicator. Monster Hunter was developed around the same time, and it used the same idea. They put a lot of effort into this aspect, such as showing the direction blood was squirting from, so players knew where they hit the enemy. While it had to be partially toned down for rating purposes, a version of the game with the original amounts of gore exists somewhere in the Osaka offices, jokes Itsuno.

• Turbo Mode was developed because of the differences between the NTSC and PAL versions of the game. The PAL version was 1.2x the speed, so they just took the PAL version and put it into the NTSC version, and turned it into a feature. They played around with different speed modifiers but ended up with 1.2x speed because it was the perfect speed where it was faster, but still played the same. It doesn’t actually have anything to do with Street Fighter 2 Turbo.

• On a Street Fighter tangent – the reason why Street Fighter 2 Turbo was made wasn’t because of the popularity of sped-up versions of the game. It was because it would get arcade players through their credits quicker.

• Some of the staff working on DMC3 were great developers who couldn’t make a hit game, and so while they were thinking of quitting, Itsuno convinced them to stay until after DMC3 so they could add it to their resume, and the rest was history.

• When asked whether the Onimusha and DMC teams had a rivalry during the making of the original trilogies, Itsuno states that there was none at all. In fact, Onimusha 2‘s director Eshiro was the producer of DmC Devil May Cry.

You can find more Q&A questions by watching the stream itself.

Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition will be available via the Nintendo eShop on February 20th, 2020.